Art, Photography & Nature

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Have you gotten snow where you live yet? Perhaps you don’t get snow. Then you’re probably not waiting for it like I am. I live in upstate New York. It’s pretty high up there compared to the rest of the U.S. So you can guess that we get TONS of snow up here. There was one year we had a snowstorm the day before Halloween! You know your a northerner when you buy your kids Halloween costume one size too big so it will fit over their snowsuit! Luckily we didn’t have to wear our snow boots this year.

That was our 8 ft. snowman, until it snowed again!

So no snow in October. Phew! Okay, here comes November. Thankgiving, fall, trees change color if they hadn’t started already. A beautiful season! More commonly people’s favorite and more often then not if it hadn’t snowed in October then our fall weather would definitely been cut short with a few inches of white on the ground. Eating turkey together and looking out the window to snowfall. Luckily we didn’t have to share the orange colors with the plain winter blanket this year!

So no snow during the fall. Phew! Now we’re current and we’re heading into December. Christmas time! Santa and sleigh rides, hot chocolate and ice skating, snowmen and doing donuts in the parking lot…ahem, I mean making snow angels.

Yay! Snow fun!

Wait…over half of those things involve snow. Surprisingly we snuck by the first week with no snow. Week two went by. Everyone has their decorations up, put up a while ago to ensure it was done before the expected snowfall. Vehicles driving by sound like they’re eating the road because everyone has their snow tires on. Yet we are all still waiting.

We got a little bit of snow.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Your telling me it’s mid-December in upstate NY and you haven’t seen a single freakin’ snowflake! Well I saw a few. A light dusting if that’s what you can call it, that melted an hour after it arrived. But since then…Nothing.

There’s that “dusting” I was talking about.

At first everyone is all like, “Yay! I hate snow! Longer it stays away the better!” But do you forget the balance of the seasons? Do you recall late winters in the past? Every time there is a late winter, that means snowy Easter my friends! Let’s hope not! That’s why I dedicate this post to snow. It’s time to let it rip mother nature! Give us a white Christmas! It’s time to go sledding and have snowball fights and make snowmen and all that snowy stuff!

Ice skaters at the Snow Festival held at Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY.

Fun fact time! Did you know that snow isn’t actually white. A snowflake is compiled of tiny little crystals that are actually clear. What we see is light reflecting back and forth on the crystals, making the snow appear white to us. Depending on where you live it might not be white at all! Some places report pink/red snow because of the ground it sits on, being red clay.

Often snow can be seen with a blue tint or even purple. When the spectrum of light passes through the snow, it scatters. Light is absorbed as it travels, absorbing more from the red side of the spectrum as opposed to blue/violet end. This allows the blue or violet light to travel and reflect more easily than the other colors. Snow may even appear green or gray while being accompanied with algea or dust. Oh…and always remember how yellow snow gets yellow. I won’t get into that one. Just know it’s not lemon juice!

I’m not sure if your a fan of snow or not. You may even be Chionophobic, which is the fear of snow. If your from the north though, it’s a part of life. It’s the change of the seasons and a change in the world around us. We need that. It’s so strange to not see it yet. It just feels weird. Like the feeling you get when you think you forgot something. Even if you didn’t you still feel that way all day. Something is missing.

There’s a greek story you may have heard of Persephone being abducted to the Underworld by Hades. Her mother Demeter, the goddess of vegetation, was so distraught that it affected the upper world and all the trees and plants had died. Winter had come.

Zues ordered Hades to return Persephone, so to restore life to the surface. Hades was forced to agree, but before returning her, he gave Persephone seven pomegranate seeds to eat. This made it so the Underworld would always be a part of her and she would be forced to return and stay with him for four months out of every year. This created the change in the seasons. Perhaps Persephone is visiting her mother a little longer than usual this year, before returning to the Underworld.

In any case, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Do you agree? Do you love the snow or are you hoping to avoid it for as long as possible? Share your story below!